Oh, brothers, where were thou?

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Ed Simons is clearly embarrassed to be seen with Tom Rowlands in that hat.

The Chemical Brothers aren't making a "comeback". Like Santa,
they never really went away. Bernard Zuel unwraps the goodies
they've left under the tree.

CHEMICAL BROTHERS
Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park
January 27, 7.30pm
$83.20
Bookings 9266 4800
They play the Big Day Out on January 26. Win tickets for the
sold-out event in next week's Metro

Tom Rowlands, the once long-haired, bespectacled part of the
Chemical Brothers, greets me this London morning/Sydney evening
with the kind of telephone bonhomie you normally only get from a
newbie market researcher. He sounds past chirpy, well on the way to
dangerously enthusiastic.

"Fresh, I feel fresh," Rowlands says.

Ah, but how long does the freshness last?

Is he a mid-afternoon flagger?

"Depends on what I'm doing," Rowlands says. "If it's something
interesting or exciting I can keep fresh for days."

Clearly J-Ho, Britney and other celebrity perfume spruikers have
got it wrong - somebody should bottle Rowland and turn him into a
celebrity deodorant. You don't need to be Siimon Reynolds to figure
out that substantial sales awaits a campaign with a smiley face, a
thumping soundtrack and a tagline like "keeps you fresh for
days".

"And nights," Rowlands says in a deep-voiced "announcer" voice.
"That would be my catchline: And nights."

What would we call it? The Tom? Not a good name, particularly in
London or for anyone who has watched The Bill, where the
working girls are called Toms. I'm thinking Rowlands's Roll-On.
Don't tell me it wouldn't work.

And it could prove a handy back-up for Rowlands and fellow
Brother Ed Simons if this music lark ends. Not that there are any
plans for early retirement for the duo who, with the Prodigy and
Fatboy Slim, took the rave and club scene into the mainstream in
the mid-'90s.

But those fellow big-beat pioneers recently released
underwhelming albums, and British dance scene champions Orbital and
Underworld also seem to be on a long sabbatical, so some could
assume the Chemical Brothers must also be waning. One French
magazine described their upcoming album, Push the Button, as
a "comeback".

Rowlands grits his teeth at the description, pointing out it has
only been about two years since their last studio album.

"It's not like we've been off trout farming for 10 years and now
re-forming," he says.

"We've been pretty constantly doing our things. I think people
assume when you put out a singles collection that's the end of your
band, that's the death knell.

"That was being said when we released the singles box set, and
it was a strange time for us because when we released that we had
already begun working on the seeds of this record and we were
really excited about it."

But the paper talk did have some effect on the pair.

"With this record we had a real spur: we didn't want our band to
fizzle out," Rowlands says.

"People thought the Chemical Brothers are on the downward-shift
kind of thing and we wanted to make a record which bucked that kind
of thing.

"We're still keen on the idea of making an album, even though
it's getting a bit of an outmoded idea in the world of downloads
and people buying single tracks.

"We love the idea of making an hour of music that is an
experience, that moves around and makes you feel different ways and
has a resolution at the end."

Such an experience may be making a dance record that engages
with the outside world. For example, there is a real sense of
disturbance at the centre of this record.

"It's weird for us because usually our records are about
amorphous, abstract feelings, and this record has those feelings
but it also has more specific things," Rowlands says.

"We wanted to make a record that was connected, that you
couldn't ignore, that meant something. The first track on the
album, Galvanise, it's like a sort of party record - 'the time has
come to galvanise, don't hold back.'

"It could be a party thing, but it's interesting that some
people hear the Moroccan strings and stuff and 'world, the time has
come to galvanise', it means to them it's time for action.

"It excited us that it works both ways.

"It's not a political record like a Rage Against the Machine,
but it's taking notice of how the world is. It's a different time
from 1997 or 1995. Then it was just hedonism."